Great damage was done to the pro-life movement yesterday with the endorsement of the Senate healthcare plan by nearly 60 Catholic sisters.
With the future of the healthcare bill in question, in rode the habit-less cavalry of sisters to the rescue. The damage done is difficult to gauge but the endorsement has been trumpeted by news sources more than the original statement of opposition from the bishops. This letter and the ensuing media firestorm will certainly dispirit pro-lifers and confuse the faithful. Many of the news reports I’ve seen have erroneously tended to portray the nuns as an equal voice to the bishops, citing a “split” in the Catholic Church.
The sisters point to the many good things the bill may accomplish. But you can’t caveat evil. It’s still just evil…Continue reading at the National Catholic Register.
March 18, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Canon 1369.
But the odds of the bishops invoking it in any serious way?
March 18, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Whether anyone wants to officially acknowledge it or not, the Catholic Church is in schism once more. This time it's much less visible and far more dangerous. The Progressive Catholics are not going out without a fight. They may be few, but their voices are loud, they have positions of authority, and the MSM is on their side. The Traditional Catholics continue to be critcized for demanding a return to orthodoxy by insisting on a return to the Traditional Roman Rite of Pius V. Their number is few and they are viewed with suspicion, often labeled as schismatics or sedevacantists. Continuing to let the boil fester are the Modern Conservative Catholics as represented by the USCCB. They sit at Mass weekly, corale up to have the Body of Christ tossed at them, and proudly singing "The Table of Plenty." They consider their spirituals lives private and personal and love to listen to Chris West. They don't demand a return to Traditional anything because they like "serving" as Eucharistic "ministers", lecters, etc. The Church is now irrelevant in the eyes of the world and to many of the faithful. Satan is laughing out loud.
March 18, 2010 at 2:55 pm
The sisters choice of words is very prophetic: the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions.
I have to agree with them… I don't think there will be elective abortions either. That's not the Leftists goal…
March 18, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Some nuns think the bill is a winner.
And if you're against, you're a sinner.
"It's pro-life," we have said.
To Christ we have wed.
We've had good Obama to dinner.
CCB is against all abortion.
The bill: its got quite a large portion
Of blood money it's true.
Bart Stupak is blue;
Most Donkeys do know the distortion (of extortion behind closed doors).
Non-Catholics perhaps are amused;
Faithful Catholics are utterly bemused.
If Christ was preborn,
Would the nuns just adjourn
And ignore their just shepherds to be used?
Cathorick
March 18, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the Sisters of Life didn't endorse the Senate "Health"Care Plan.
March 18, 2010 at 3:35 pm
We have to accept the reality that the Church in the US will have leaders and religious who are not faithful to the Pope and bishops. And we have to have a new way of dealing with this other than waiting for Father or Monsignor to say something. As long as we are following the Church's teaching, we have to take decisive and strong actions against those who confuse the others with their scandals and dissent. Not for nothing, were we baptised and confirmed to be kings, prophets and priests. In this battle, the positions are clear as all the bishops have opposed the bill. The nuns are clearly wrong – even sinfully wrong at that. We must act and not wait for the bishops; we have their hands full and can use our help. Please spread the word and expose the evil of these nuns – that comes under the pretense of good. Pray for them. Call them and correct them. Email them or even visit them. If they refuse to correct their mistakes, then defund them and pull your children out of their schools.
March 18, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Of course they want the plan. They are such a bunch of bossy, shrill frumps that no new nuns will join their order to care for them in old age. They have to use the law to coerce us within ten feet of that polyester, moth-ball madness they have going on. Yikes.
March 18, 2010 at 4:58 pm
This is worse than you think. Many of these Nuns are in charge of hospital systems. If this goes through, it sounds like, they will happily do the abortions, sterilizations, etc, because they will be "required to" by law. This law will be “liberating” them following the Church.
March 18, 2010 at 6:10 pm
so, when is a good Bishop going to ex-communicate these women?
Mary
March 18, 2010 at 7:12 pm
And unfortunately, now not just nuns, but Bishops themselves are breaking solidarity:
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=5769
How long until the next?
March 18, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Real nuns answer the false nuns.
http://www.cmswr.org/
"The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, the second conference of
Major Superiors of Women Religious in the United States, finds the provision of
the bill to include expansion of abortion funding and fails to include conscience
protection. We believe the bill needs to include the Hyde Amendment as passed by
the House in November."
March 18, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Another reponse to the "nuns" http://usccbmedia.blogspot.com/2010/03/and-then-there-were-nun.html
March 18, 2010 at 9:37 pm
We need a 40 days for life outside the pantsuit convents.
March 18, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Why does the Cgurch continue to put up with dissenting Nuns and Priests? They pull this stuff with impunity. I say get rid of them. If people are not happy with Church teaching they should leave and if they will not then they should be pitched out on their ear!!!
March 20, 2010 at 11:49 am
Here is my letter to a sister whose convent I actually supported in the past.
Sister,
Please remove our names from your mailing list and cease all contact with us. We have given you money in the past but will no longer do so. We cannot have your actions against life and the faith on our conscience by supporting you in any way.
I hope your decision to sign a letter urging passage of the current healthcare legislation came out of ignorance. Otherwise it would be a scurrilous act. Since you may not have properly informed yourself, let me inform you that this legislation will lead to even fuller government support of abortions. Why do you think Planned Parenthood–the largest abortion provider in the world–is not speaking out against this legislation? Why do you think pro-life Democrat Bart Stupak has railed against this bill of his Democratic president? He is, for now, standing firm in the faith that he thought your life was devoted to.
This legislation is also step one in a system that will attack conscience clauses, eventually forcing true people of faith to participate in abortion or leave their medical positions. It also sets up bureaucracies that will decide who gets covered by assessing an individual's value of life to society by a formula being established now by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, advisor to the President.
Did you actually do any research into this issue before you took a stand on the side of death and against the basic tenets of your faith? As I said, I hope you are merely a useful idiot for the faithless left, patting yourself on your back for your compassion. It would be too painful and frightening to consider any other possibility. To quote poet Emily Dickinson, writing about her disappointment in her pastor: "What confusion would cover the innocent Jesus to see so enabled a man."